This is a realistic concern. The new sanctions imposed by the Crapo Amendment target Russia’s mining industry as well as attempting to curb foreign investment in its energy industry. German and other European energy companies have considerable such investments.

German companies Wintershall and Uniper in particular are heavily investing in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, an intended Baltic natural gas pipeline to provide Russian gas imports to northern Europe. Most of the nations in northern Europe, particularly Germany, are heavily dependent on Russia as a source of natural gas.

Merkel’s spokesman insisted it was “peculiar” that the US Senate would try to punish Russia for allegations of election interference by imposing sanctions that mostly threatened European companies that are securing energy imports, and threatened to respond if the US tries to do so.

What few billions of NATO dollars? there is no such thing. The NATO Alliance has no central pool of money resources to be dished out, each member country is suppose to be spending at the very least 2% of their own national GDP on their own military full stop.

So, perhaps we just need to say “US taxpayer dollars”. All of those bases, all of those troop deployments are a spending of US taxpayer dollars and that this benefits the host country and the local economies. Bars and other off-base businesses, various out-sourcing and supply contracts ….. all of these provide a transfer of money from US taxpayers to the host country.

The U.S. has played a hegemonic role since the Marshall Plan in Europe and has enjoyed enormous economic benefits from essentially running Europe via the farce of the UE and NATO. And, the plan has always been to keep Europe subservient so as to be able to use Europe as a shield from Russian, as needed, and to sacrifice Europe, again, in the event of war.

This so as to soak up as many Russian nukes as possible outside of the U.S. It’s an obvious an very useful way to “win” against the Russians in a nuclear conflagration.

Rest assured that Russia will view any nuclear war as a war against NATO and neither the U.S. nor the Europeans will be left out of the fun. Both will suffer in the extreme, even if Russia is obliterated.

What does Germany get out of attacking Trump for not playing the hegemonic role? They are trying to shake down their oil dealer when they aren’t trying to cut deals with it. They’ve attacked any perceived overtures Trump has done towards Russia, especially from their sinister Hillary clone defense minister who has the same first (fitting) name as the villain in the Little Mermaid.

I agree that Russia would consider a war with the US a war with NATO. Russia has plenty of US military bases to fire nukes at.

I’d like to know which American businesses would be hurt by the German retaliation. That will outline the pressures on Congress as this sanctions bill moves forward to the House and possible conference committee.

Finally… FINALLY… the Germans stand up to reckless US militarism and aggression… If they had done the same in the Middle East with the rest of NATO, they would not be flooded with war and economic refugees tearing the place apart

Really the USA is going overboard about the stupid lies about Russia when there are real dangers to the USA and the rest of us from nuclear madness, global warming, wars, diseases which are REAL and need to be addressed. Trump has already alienated most of the USA’s “allies” except KSA and Israel (of course) and needs to stop the continual dominating pettiness of a stern headmaster to his underlings;